An
over-the-top 3d retouching example wouldn't
be complete without some last minute
color adjustment. This process is really
easy and can be used for just about
anything, not just retouching 3d pieces
in post. Here's the image where we last
left off:
Ever
since Photoshop 6, Adobe has included
these neat little things called "adjustment
layers". Basically it's any of
the "image>adjust>"
effects that can be used as layers
themselves, effecting anything below
them and maintaining editbility. That's
what we're going to use.*
*If you don't have Photoshop 6 or
above, you can do this, but you need
to save a flattened version of your
file and use "Image>Adjust>"
on that. Otherwise you won't affect
all of the layers collectively.
Click
on the small half circle icon on the
bottom of your Layers Pallette. This
opens a menu of various adjustment effects.
Choose "Color Balance"
I
wanted the image to have an overall
more "blueish" tint. To achieve
this I used the following settings:
This
resulted in a much more "cold"
and brooding feel, which is exactly
what I wanted. Using subtle tint of
color in your work can affect the
overall feel. Follow the old color
theory idioms: Reds are warm, energetic,
and pop out. Blues are cold, slow
and recede.
Other
touch ups:
After all is said and done, I played
around with the noise layer a little
bit and I also applied adjustment
layers to touch up contrast and saturation
a little. Keep in mind working on
a piece in Post is half technique
and half personal preference.
Here's the finished image.
versus
the original:
And
here's a view of the final Layers
and Channels Pallettes:
There
are other effects we can apply to the
picture, but for the most part it's
about done. It may look a little too
glitzy with all the different edits
to it applied at once, but no one says
you have to use all of them. Pick and
choose what you think looks best in
your image and if you can, try and use
the 3d Package itself to calculate effects
(especially backlights and depth-of-field
effects). Don't feel the need to go
as overboard as this example, being
subtle can go a long way. Look at the
Gallery and see if you can spot any
possible post effects; on the best images
you won't be able to tell if the effect
was rendered or created in post.
I hope you found this tutorial to be
useful/informative.
